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May 10, 2011

G36: Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 6 (10)

Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run home run to left to give Boston a 4-3 lead in the fifth, then hit another opposite field dong to tie the game in the ninth at 6-6. But it was the legs of Rajai Davis and the non-arm of Jason Varitek (pictured, at left) that sunk the Red Sox in Skydome.

Matt Albers followed Daniel Bard to the hill and pitched a perfect ninth. He retired the first Jay in the 10th, but Davis (who had shown his speed on a fourth-inning triple) chopped a single up the middle. On the first pitch to David Cooper (playing in his ninth major league game; he debuted April 29), the Red Sox pitched out, but Varitek's throw to shortstop Jose Iglesias was late, though Iggy put down a quick tag to make the play somewhat close. On the next pitch, Davis took off for third and beat Tek's throw to Kevin Youkilis.

Desperate for a strikeout or infield pop-up, Albers got ahead of Cooper 1-2 before Cooper lifted a fly ball to center. Jacoby Ellsbury was playing shallow and had to go back on it, but there was no chance of a play on Davis even if he had been coming in on the ball.

Lester (5.1-7-4-5-5, 114) battled most of the night, walking three of the first four Toronto hitters in the first inning, the last one forcing in a run. Carl Crawford singled in David Ortiz, who had doubled, to get the Sox on the board in the second. Ortiz hit a bomb (#5) to dead center in the fourth and Gonzalez (#5) went deep in the fifth, with Dustin Pedroia aboard.

Jose Bautista led off the fifth with his #11 homer - a laser to left - and J.P. Arencibia opened the sixth with his 5th long ball, which gave Toronto a 5-4 lead.

In the top of the eighth, Jed Lowrie doubled with one out and Iglesias pinch-ran. With two outs, Jarrod Saltalamacchia singled to left to tie the game at 5-5. Cooper hit the first homer of his major league career in the home half, but the Jays' lead was short-lived as Evil Bert hit #6 to begin the ninth. After two were out, J.D. Drew singled and Iglesias - in his first plate appearance - struck out, but reached first on a wild pitch. But the inning ended when Crawford struck out.

This wrap-up would not be complete without a loud FUCK YOU to third base coach Tim Bogar. In the fourth, Toronto led 3-2, but the Sox had runners on first and second with two outs. Ellsbury singled to left (3-for-6; 19-game streak!), and Bogar waved Crawford around third. The throw beat him to the plate by 10 feet, ending the inning. It's maddening, and Terry Francona will defend him to the media, of course, saying it was a good gamble, and he would have done the same thing. Like previous idiots in that position, Bogar remains permanently clueless about the relative speed of various Red Sox players and the arm strength of opposing outfielders, and seems allergic to common sense about choosing the right time to take a risk.

After a 6-5 homestand, the Red Sox are in Toronto for two games before heading to the Bronx for a three-game weekend series against the Yankees. Then it's back to Fenway for a week to play the Orioles, Tigers, and White Sox Cubs.

Since April 15, Boston is 15-8 (.652), a pace equal to a 105.6 win season. If Boston plays at a .652 pace for the rest of the season, they would finish with exactly 100 wins.

In his last start, against the Angels, Lester had 11 strikeouts while allowing only one run in seven innings. He has allowed two or fewer runs in five of his seven starts this year; he allowed three and five runs in the other two outings.

The Red Sox have been trying to get Alfredo Aceves to stop part of his motion that is clearly a balk since spring training. (Yet Aceves's two balks in the Twins series are the only two of his major league career.) Peter Abraham of the Globe covered Aceves in New York and described him, in light of what appears to be stubborness about altering his motion, as "somewhat of a pain in the posterior. He's a quirky guy, quick to anger and not quite mindful that he ... isn't an All-Star".

Allan, I did a news search to find the earliest use of "scoring position"--earliest I found was in an article from the 1908 WS. (I also found that it used to be a much more common term in football articles. It was like the "red zone" before it was red.)

Details: Toronto is a "beta" city, the authors say, because it's not considered a part of the conversation with London, Paris, and New York for greatest city in the world. But it has all the building blocks of a superlative international city, beginning with smart ideas about sustainability and innovation.

Toronto is a really nice city, much more diverse and vibrant than a US city of the same size. In other ways, it's a wannabe city, wishing and pretending it is a world leader, wanting to be "the New York of Canada" but being just too small to manage it.

It's a great place to visit, though. (And not just because we live nearby.) A really fun long weekend kind of place.

castig's call of the final out of the 2007 world series is probably the absolute worst call i have ever heard. or will ever hear.

they use it in some of the radio intro/promos and i am embarrassed for him every time i hear it. if i was him i would ask/demand they never use it.

it's the "1st team in the 21st century to win 2 world series" call. it's obviously canned and written out beforehand. the bad thing is it sounds like it - and it cannot be the best one he could think of.

and it's way too long -- and by time he finally gets to the end, you can tell he is sick of it too and wondering why the fuck he went with this one. but it is too late. and THEN he brings the "can you believe it?"

ugh. just horrifically bad. worse than sterling's shitty "ball game over, alcs over" calls because it goes on so long.

Stupid NESN commercial: "The Red Sox go to the Bronx to take on the best-in-class Yankees." And they really emphasize "best." We can watch Yes if we want that shit! What the hell are they saying that for??

i'll take a sac fly. but goddamn it!!!!! pissed about inning, but, again we're getting Don and Zaun for the WHOLE commercial. They're just goofin' on the weird Canadian 7th inning stretch. Wow, NESN trying to make up for all those pitches they've missed?